DeMon ghost stalks weavers, farmers, traders

SHIVPUR: Is notebandi an issue in the seven-round UP polls that began three months after Narendra Modi made the announcement on November 8, 2016? BJP politicians are careful not to mention it in campaign speeches, Mayawati and the Akhilesh-Rahul duo invariably rake it up. It's not the first thing on the mind of most voters, except those still reeling under its impact. For Shivpur's Benarasi weavers, traders of Banda's Naraini constituency or for farmers and cowherds at Phaphamau in Allahabad, “notebandi“ largely determines who to vote, or rather who not to. Varanasi's trademark is the Benarasi silk sari. But demonetisation has hit weavers. These craftsmen and their womenfolk, also involved in weaving, are mostly Muslims. While their children attend school, most men from an early age learn to operate looms, read designs and transfer them to metal stencils to create motifs on the weaves.Between household work, women roll thread to be mounted on looms. Jallaluddin Ansari's family of 25, with three power-looms and a handloom at home, in semi-rural Lohta of Shivpuri constituency near Varanasi, survives on this trade like others in the village. “Notebandi has killed us. Trading, buying silk thread, selling to middlemen, everything is in cash. In the first two months all of this got hit. We lost out on wedding-season profits,“ says 52-year-old Ansari. “Our family's monthly income was Rs 6,000 to Rs 7,000 before. It's down by Rs 2,000 since. Transport ers have hiked charges. But we carry on. The loom is our only livelihood,“ adds Ansari's brother Ghulam Rasool. He complains: “ Apart from sub sidised electricity, there's no other relief.“ The neighbourhood makes no secret of being SP voters. In Naraini constituency , the Attara market is empty . Garment seller Mahendra Gupta says: “This is Bundelkhand's biggest market. Notebandi has harmed us. You can see the impact, no customers here. We won't vote BJP .“

Another shop owner claims the traders' association will vote “cycle“. This decision was taken at a meeting, he informs. Traders are a small community in this reserved seat. Farmers of Mohammadpur of Phaphamau constituency , mostly SP voters from the Yadav community , are angry about “notebandi“ since it's brought a strange new problem beyond two months of cash crunch. “To open bank accounts they ask for Aadhaar, pan number, ration card... For each, we have to pay either Rs 200 or Rs 500 or Rs 100 bribe per card,“ says middle-aged Nanhe Yadav, who has land and seven cows between him and his brothers.